The cost of raising a child in India: School costs ₹30 lakh, college a crore

[sehnsucht9]

Parents always knew raising a child in India – with its broken model of education – is expensive, and turning more so. Actual numbers support this belief. As per ET Online research, the overall expenditure of schooling a child in India in a private school from age 3 to age 17 is a whopping Rs 30 lakh.

As per economists, the cost of rising private education has not been fully captured in inflation data as it is weighted at just 4.5% in the consumer prices index based on a decade-old model. EduFund says education costs have climbed by around 10-12% in India between 2012-20. Not only the tuition fee but transportation fees and examination fees are also hiked periodically which affects parents’ overall budget

Elite higher education within India is steep as well. Enrolling in a top-rated engineering college, like one of the twenty-three IITs or any other private institution, for a 4-year BTech or a 3-year BSc, costs around Rs 4-20 lakh. Expenses for coaching for entrance exams like JEE, JEE (Main) and other exams range from Rs 30,000 to Rs 5 lakh. A top-rated management institution like one of the twenty IIMs, or any other private university in the country, costs Rs 8 lakh-Rs 23 lakh. Coaching for qualifying tests like CAT or GMAT has extra cost

https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...lakh-college-a-crore/articleshow/93607066.cms

 

[dan_p]

@sehnsucht9 Obviously this will depend on the city and type of school you are looking at. But these numbers are not fake.

All these new fancy IB Board schools charge a bomb. I know a school in Bangalore - Stonehill that charges north of 12 Lakhs a year.

And even CBSE schools aren’t too far off. I paid nearly a lakh a year for a relatively new school back in 2011-13.

 

[darklydivine]

@dan_p The charge in schools is for assurance that only the similar status people enter the school.Generslly it's the schools which create leaders.you can already see the future leaders in cathedral and John cannon mumbai,dps rk puram,modern school etc irrespective of their academic performance.degrees can be bought

 

[lukapyon03]

@dan_p This looks like a school for expats children and they can pay this amount I guess.

 

[dem4]

@lukapyon03 Not just for expats. I go here.

 

[aldert]

@sehnsucht9 We are following footsteps of USA. Make education expensive and then we shame unprivileged why didn’t you get educated.

 

[ridley12]

@aldert The same is happening in healthcare as well

 

[colinamey]

@ridley12 Yep, everyone seems bent on getting health insurance.

 

[ruth2010]

@colinamey But we need health insurance though right? It's better than a single health issue draining all your savings?

 

[shemaiah]

@ruth2010 In an ideal world quality health care and education should be free

 

[resjudicata]

@shemaiah Shouldn't be free, should perhaps be the responsibility of the Government. However, Government needs revenue to sponsor those expenses and if you're not resource rich nation or the world's manufacturing hub, it gets very difficult very fast

 

[shemaiah]

@resjudicata Hence I start with the phare ideal world

 

[brennenstuhl]

@shemaiah Nothing is free. Even in ideal world. Someone has to pay for it.

 

[colinamey]

@brennenstuhl That's pretty much the concept of insurance, we all pay collectively to cover the risk of some of us getting sick and having to bear that cost. With more people paying, the government can actually do an even better job with the same amount of money .... in an ideal world, of course.

 

[graceandjoy]

@colinamey

we all pay collectively to cover the risk of some of us getting sick and having to bear that cost.

Not really, The way any insurance works is by checking the probability of you needing your money back in short term or long term. If there is a high probability of you needing the money back in short term, they either reject the insurance or request more money. If the probability is low, then they will readily give your insurance.

In a healthy individual, he would only need the invested amount by the time he reaches his 50s or 60s. So if you do the calculation, where you take the amount they ask you to pay on a monthly basis with a 7 or 8% for the years for you to reach 50 or 60 would be what the insured some is. The amount you pay would be invested in equities which would be generating a higher return. And the insurance companies would keep the difference as their profit.

If you would have invested it yourself, you would have more money for your medical bills than what the health insurance would provide, without caveats on what would be covered in insurance.

The only reason to go for insurance is if you suspect or believe that something bad can happen in the short term. But if your worry was valid, the insurance company wouldnt give you the insurance.

what CelebrationOK1161 is suggesting is a model that of canada or France, where the govt would tax its citizens more, to generate the money needed for healthcare. They wouldnt be analysing you on whether there would be a probability of a medical issue in the short run. IMO this is a good system (Assuming the govt is efficient with money, which it is not) because the poor is not forced to pay additional money for insurance and a person with medical issues can get medical treatment.

 

[jreneew8]

@brennenstuhl Previous users's in an Ideal World framing here to me means rising the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and making lower levels "Free".

This is so because the entire reason a human being even developed the concept of State was to get these lower levels at such a cheap cost that they can be termed trivially Free, relative to alternatives at play.

Safety is 1 such thing, it's near the bottom/core of this Needs Hierarchy since nothing trumps Organisism Survival Drive (even the need to eat comes later, slightly but still later). Individuals gave up certain natural personal rights in exchange for this. This is a deal.

As State becomes wealthier it should climb this Needs Hierarchy and keep making levels "Free" from bottom up. That's the point of even entering into a Collective like a State.

Health & Education most definitely do fit the case to eventually be Free. These are not like Right to a Job or Right to own a Tank or launch a revolutionary movement or something.

This is how I also interpret UBI as well. It can only work when there is a surplus in society/State and it should only pick certain things on that Needs Table and always start from the bottom item which hasn't been made, "Free".

 

[resjudicata]

@aldert India is after all a mixture of American politics and British legal systems.

The increase in the cost of UG education is horrifying.

 

[aldert]

@resjudicata Making quality education cheaper is the key. Some people may say even Indian government provides public schools free of cost but the output from those schools cannot compete with rich private schools with few exceptions (Delhi). I come from vernacular medium Maharashtra rural background and to be honest it has been very exhausting to keep up with standards.

 

[resjudicata]

@aldert Wholeheartedly agree.

And yet here we are, ministers selling teacher jobs for cash.

 

[bezz]

@aldert In USA education is free till 12th. Its expensive beyond that.